


Trust

by fuzipenguin



Series: Half Your Age +7 [4]
Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Older!Twins, Other, Twincest, younger!ratchet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-26
Updated: 2018-09-26
Packaged: 2019-07-18 01:08:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16107617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuzipenguin/pseuds/fuzipenguin
Summary: Trust can be hard to come by.





	Trust

**Author's Note:**

> Anonymous said: Oh man seeing young!ratch verse again gives me so many ideas! I like your take on young ratch and his enthusiasm for new things! How about a time when his skills as a medic surprise someone (especially his age/experience) or when he's nervous about something out of his depth?

               “Sir, shouldn’t _you_ …?”

                Ratchet slowly backed up and tried to slide sideways, but Hoist stepped in front of him, blocking his way. “You need the practice. Plus, they like you.”

                “Yeah? Well, they unnerve me,” Ratchet protested. 

                Hoist took a step back and crossed his arms over his chest. Even behind the mask and visor, Ratchet could feel the stare of disappointment.

                “I should think any rookie would _leap_ at the chance to work with a pair of split-spark twins. I sincerely doubt you had any on your clinical rotations, considering how rare they are,” Hoist said. “Surely you don’t believe all that dross about them being cursed?”

                “What?! No! Absolutely not!” Ratchet exclaimed. He had already worked with them twice and he was never one to believe in superstitious nonsense anyway. “They just… they’re very suggestive.”

                Hoist raised an orbital ridge. “That’s better treatment than any of the other medics get, including myself. Now go.”

                Sighing, Ratchet nodded and stomped across the room to where the Terror Twins awaited.

                Sideswipe saw him first, nudging his brother’s shoulder with his own, and then hopping off the berth in excitement.

                “Cuteness! Hey, gorgeous, are you our coder today?”

                The entire medical bay stopped what they were doing and turned to look in their direction at the echoing ring of Sideswipe’s delighted shout.

                Ratchet hunched in on himself and reminded himself that he loved his job. He scurried the rest of the way into the small exam partition and pulled the door closed behind him.

                “I am,” Ratchet said through gritted teeth. “Which one of you is first?”

                “Oooh, right down to business. I like it… and Sunstreaker is.”

                Sunstreaker’s head whipped around and he glared at his twin. “You promised!” he hissed.

                Sideswipe shrugged. “That was Hoist. This is the silky-handed love of our lives – I wanna watch him work on my twin. Can you blame me?”

                “Yes. Yes, I can.”

                Ratchet raised his right hand, which, definitely not silky. Once he caught Sideswipe’s attention, he spoke up. “I’m patch coding. Not actually working with my hands. You know that, right?”

                “Sedantics,” Sideswipe responded, waving his hand through the air.

                “ _Semantics_ ,” Sunstreaker said, correcting him and looking angry enough to start spitting screws. Perfect. Just the attitude Ratchet needed going into someone’s systems. Well, the sooner he started, the sooner he could finish.

                He stepped forward and reached for Sunstreaker’s arm and then stumbled backwards in the next instant. His spark raced with fear and his wide optics were fixated on the gold fist that had just missed his nasal ridge.

                Despite their reputation in the ‘Bay for being belligerent and obstinate, he’d never actually had a problem with either of them. The punch had been completely unexpected and showed that maybe they didn’t like him as much as Hoist insisted they did.

                _“Sunny_.”

                Sideswipe had a hand wrapped around Sunstreaker’s wrist and it was likely the only reason the blow hadn’t connected. Sunstreaker shrugged off his brother’s grip and glared harder, if that was possible.

                “I hate it!”

                “Sweetspark, it’s just two more days. Then we’re done. Two more days of patches, right, Ratchet?” Sideswipe asked, looking up at Ratchet with beseeching optics.

                Ratchet tilted his head to the side and slowly nodded. “Yes. Two more days.”

                Two more days, three patches a day. All to carefully and slowly overwrite a viral infection which was warping some of their base coding. Several of the soldiers on base were in the same boat after exposure to some black market stims that had been circulating around.

                The twins, unfortunately, had been hit the worst. According to Hoist, their coding was unique in many ways and more susceptible to certain types of viruses. While not life threatening at the moment, the changes the virus had made could spiral badly if left unattended. Thus their more intensive regimen.

                 And it was great practice for Ratchet; he hadn’t had a lot of experience with coding and definitely never any with a set of twins. He should be grateful for the opportunity.

                Yet all he could think of was the fact that he had almost gotten punched just now.

                “Why can’t Hoist do it?” Sunstreaker asked, optics burning as he stared Ratchet down.

                “I… I need the experience,” Ratchet offered hesitantly. “I haven’t done it much and…”

                Sunstreaker threw up his hands and jumped off the table, beginning to pace in the small cubicle. “Are you kidding me? We have a newbie doing this?!”

                “It’s very basic over-writes,” Ratchet replied, getting a little hot under the plating at the insult. He wasn’t a freshman in Academy after all!

                “Very basic,” Sideswipe said, stepping in front of his twin. He spread his arms out to the side. “The kid just doesn’t have as many under his belt as Hoist does. You know we’re all ‘special’ so the old bucket of rust probably wanted to use us as a case study for him or something. It has to be done by _someone_ , Sunny. The kid might as well get some practice with it.”

                Sunstreaker and Sideswipe stared at each other for a long moment, no doubt communicating over their bond. Finally Sunstreaker huffed and threw himself back up on the berth.

                “If you end up making me even a fraction of an astrosecond slower…” Sunstreaker warned, pointing a finger at Ratchet in a threatening manner.

                “Then I’ll kill him for you,” Sideswipe said, pushing Sunstreaker’s hand back down to his side.

                Ratchet snorted. “What happened to me being the ‘love of your lives’?” he sarcastically asked.

                Sideswipe looked over his shoulder. “Sweets… love is rough. Pit, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve tried to kill Sunny and I love him more than life itself.”

                Ratchet couldn’t tell if he was insulted… or charmed. Regardless, he still had a job to do.

                “I would never intentionally harm either of you,” Ratchet said stiffly. He wanted to be reassuring, but it was hard in the face of Sunstreaker’s hate-filled optics.

                “We know,” Sideswipe said. “We just aren’t fans of medics rummaging around behind our firewalls. Too many have made changes just for kicks. Or because they were paid to. ”

                “That’s… that’s horrible!” Ratchet exclaimed, aghast. He stumbled forward under the guidance of Sideswipe’s hand until he stood next to the berth. “What kind of medic would do that?!”

                “Oh, gladiator docs never had the best ethics,” Sideswipe said, shaking his head. “And hey…”

                Ratchet halts, hand held in the air just above Sunstreaker’s wrist port. “Yes?”

                Sideswipe leaned in, his normally upbeat expression utterly serious for once. “I wasn’t joking. I love my brother. And I _will_ kill you if you frag him up. You’re awfully cute, and I really like you… but not that much. Understood?”

                Ratchet met Sideswipe’s gaze and nodded after a moment. “Yes, I understand.”

                He definitely understood. These two mechs had been victimized by the very people who had been supposed to help them. No wonder they had such a poor view of medics.

                Right then and there he vowed that he would ensure the twins always had the best care possible. They would never have cause to fear or mistrust him.

                Never.

 

~ End


End file.
